This interview with Anton took place in May of 2022 in Krakow, Poland. He was volunteering at one of the many refugee centers we visited.
Interview: What’s your name and where are you from?
Anton: Anton and I am from Kyiv, Ukraine.
Interviewer: How did you find out about the war starting on February 24th and what did you do?
Anton: I woke up to shootings nearby at the airport at 4:50AM. I could not understand what was going on. But, then I watched the news and realized that the war had broken out.
Interviewer: How long did you stay in Kyiv?
Anton: I lived there for two months before I moved to Poland with my family. It was complicated to go earlier because of active hostilities and the trains were overcrowded. We waited two months before we took a train from Kyiv to Krakow.
Interviewer: How do you feel here in Poland?
Anton: It is good here, but there are some problems. There are so many Ukrainians and there are not enough places for people to live and work. We are very grateful for the support provided by Poland. But currently I live in a dormitory, while my parents rent an apartment.
Interviewer: What are your further plans?
Anton: The quote “To be or not to be?” resonates with me. It is better “to be”, So I plan to carry on. I understand the scale of the situation in Ukraine, so it’s better to start settling in here than just live without knowing what to do further.
Interviewer: Are you a volunteer? How has this experience changed you?
Anton: I don’t know yet how it has changed me. But I believe everyone should try to be human first of all, so it is natural for me to help others. I work here at this center every day from 9am to 9pm. I help fellow Ukrainians with Polish sim cards for their cell phones and I also assist with english translations when I am needed.
Oksana: What is the message you would like to share with the world regarding the war in Ukraine?
Anton: It’s difficult to say. There is so much information going around. The main thing is to help people in need. There is nothing worse than seeing the death of your child, and so many children died in Ukraine, especially in Bucha and Irpin. The children were shot in their strollers. It is not even fascism. It’s like schizophrenia in Russian people. It’s complicated to talk about that.
I don’t understand how any person or soldiers can kill an unprotected child and rape their mothers. It’s an atrocity to humanity.
What can help? Just stop the war and liberate Ukraine from Russian occupants. So Ukraine needs more weapons and more pressure on russia.
This interview took place in May of 2022. A lot has changed in the war and situation, but Russia continues to fight in Ukraine and kill innocent people every day. The thing I took away from this interview is that every person is a human. Each day you can choose as an individual to show small acts of kindness and love towards those around you. If Anton can do this after fleeing his home and becoming a refugee, we all can. Let’s all seek to do a small act of kindness to a stranger in the next week.